Tuesday, October 19, 2010

"Muslims attacked us on 9/11"

Before I forget I want to write a post about Bill O'Reilly's statement on "The View" (a show I'd never heard of until last week) about why there should not be a mosque near ground zero: because "Muslims attacked us on 9/11." I don't really care if there's a mosque near ground zero, and if New Yorkers don't want a mosque there then I don't think a mosque should be built there. But to say that "Muslims attacked us on 9/11" without elaborating, as if to lump all Muslims with Al Qaeda, is to be simple-minded and maybe even stupid. It's like saying "Christians killed Jews in WWII" or "Christians killed Native Americans." Or how about "Buddhists killed Americans at Pearl Harbor"? It's a true statement, but sounds ridiculous by itself.

I happened to be on Yahoo! when I saw that article, which was the most emailed article on Yahoo! on Thursday. Bill O'Reilly's comment didn't bother me as much as some of the comments for that Yahoo! article. Many comments claiming that Muslims all over the world celebrated 9/11 and that all Muslims want to convert American Christians to Islam. It's downright silly.

Baghdad in 2000: "A woman known as Um Haydar was beheaded reportedly without charge or trial at the end of December 2000. She was 25 years' old and married with three children. Her husband was sought by the security authorities reportedly because of his involvement in Islamist armed activities against the state. He managed to flee the country. Men belonging to Feda'iyye Saddam came to the house in al-Karrada district and found his wife, children and his mother. Um Haydar was taken to the street and two men held her by the arms and a third pulled her head from behind and beheaded her in front of the residents. The beheading was also witnessed by members of the Ba'ath Party in the area. The security men took the body and the head in a plastic bag, and took away the children and the mother-in-law. The body of Um Haydar was later buried in al-Najaf. The fate of the children and the mother-in-law remains unknown."